Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-01-07
Che GssG County 9Frala.
ISLAND POND. JANUARY Z, 4ss7.
BRILLIANT OR TRUSTWORTHY.

BRILLIANT OR TRUSTWORTHY!
1t may well be asked at this stage
of the worlds development if our
theories and ideas concerning educa-
zion are not wrong, to some extent
at least. For example, it is gener-
ally the practice to exalt the bright
pupil over his duller fellow, and to
give him more help than he actually
needs, while we neglect his class
mate who is really in need of assist
ance. The slow boy must plod
along as best he can without encour-
agement, while the quick one is
cheered on his onward way in the
thorny psth of lea rning. The one
who can easily leap over the stile is
given ready hand, while the one
who tolls along painfully must cross
it as best he can.
The lad of swift perceptions may
forget as readily as he acquires, for
it is the shallow pool that is the
soonest stirred by the passing breeze
while the one with less nimble fac.
Mites may retain everything that
he has toilsomely won. Every man
in his experience can look back to
many brilliant pupils at school, show
scholars, who never amounted to
great deal in after-life, and can re-
call apparently stupid ones who
achieved fortune and distinction.
Nevertheless there are no doubt
many boys of slowly receptive minds
who get discouraged at the outset
of life, and who, thinking that
nature has not intended them for
anything, look upon the world as a
foe and act accordingly. If they
received a little advice and encour-
agement this might have been
avoided. If they had not been re-
garded as Ounces they might have
developed a proper self-respect that
would have kept them out of mis-
chief.
On the other hand, as we have al
ready indicated, boys of more pre-
cocious turn of mind are often treat
ed with too much Partially. They
are made to believe that they are
smarter than they really are, and
this creates an amount Of assurance
that frequently causes them to lapse
into an extravaganza of behavior
that produces the worst results.
They often neglect matters until the
last moment hoping by their extra
ordinary facility for doing things to
make up for lost time. That they fail
in doing this in after life is often
shown by the wreck and disgrace
Of many So-called brilliant man.
Turn where you will, in our
Offices, in our work shops and in our
manufactures the cry is for a smart
boy rather than a steady one, and
we find the former, with his super
fetal accomplishments, pushed along
until he finds himself in some posi-
ton of trust which eventually brings
him to sin and diShonor. We do
not mean to say that all quick-witted
boys are not TO be trusted, and that
they do not sometimes reach elevated
positions which they adorn, but we
do say their natural ap titudc> should
not, in the school room and in other
situations in the earlier walks of
life, be regarded with too much
favor. Let them work out their
own salvation, as the saying goes
without too much lifting, so that
they ma y not find life too soft at
the beginning of their career, and
spend a little more time in nourish-
ing the tardy but more sturdy quail
ties of their brothers of less rapid
growth. Give the backward boys
a show by affording them more
assistance, and kill envy by less dis
elimination in the schools and else
where and Danish such words from
them as Ounce, ninnyhammer and
blockhead. Make even the dull boy
feel that he is somebody, and that
for the rough wear and tear of this
life trustworthiness is more desira-
bic than brilliancy.